Corporate networks are under attack from so many directions today. Cloud computing and the BYOD phenomenon are ramping up the complexity of networks, opening up vulnerabilities to a rapidly expanding array of threats. It's all enough to make security folks want to curl up in a network closet and hope it all goes away.

Sadly, the battlefield isn't going to get any simpler for information security professionals any time soon, which is why more than 200 of them filled every seat during the first of two "Network Security Smackdown" panel discussions at RSA Conference 2014 in San Francisco this week.

Quick polls of the audience indicated that large numbers of attendees are struggling to secure BYOD environments, aren't comfortable with automated assessment and response tools, and are confused about how -- or if -- software-defined networking can help.

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